Reclosable packaging is particularly suited for packaging of food products when it is desired to repeatedly remove relatively small quantities of the food product. Such food products include cereals, rice, candies, and the like, and may also include meat food products, such as chicken, frankfurters, sliced meats, etc. While the use of reclosable flexible bags having twist-tie wire fasteners or plastic clasps has long been known, recent advents in reclosable packaging have included configuring packages to have integral zipper-type fastener assemblies, including interlocking profile strips. In such arrangements, the package is typically opened by cutting or tearing a portion of the package to gain access to the fastener assembly, with opening and closing of the profile strips of the fastener assembly thereafter permitting the package to be selectively opened and closed.
Some food products, however, are preferably stored in a sealed fashion, preventing the ingress of oxygen into the package. This prevents food spoilage and increases the shelf life of the product. It would be desirable to provide an easily opening portion of the package to gain access to the profile strips which also maintains the sealed integrity of the package.
It is known that antioxidants or antioxidizing agents can be added to the preparation of food products (cereals, snack-foods, or the like) and some non-food products (cosmetics, perfumes, or the like) to protect the points of unsaturation from oxidizing and peroxide formation and therefore extending their shelf life. As taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,428,745; 2,666,709; 2,683,694; and 2,704,746 naturally occurring antioxidants such as BHT (butylated hydroxy toluene and known chemically as 2,6-di-tertiary butyl-p-cresol or 2,6-di-tertiary butyl-4-methyl-phenol), BHA (butylated hydroxy anisole and known chemically as a mixture of 3-tertiary butyl-4-hydroxyanisole and 2-tertiary butyl-4-hydroxyanisole), TBHQ (tertiary butyl hydroquinone and known chemically as 2-(1,1-dimethylethy)-1,4-benzenediol), and PG (propyl gallate or known chemically as n-propyl-3,4,5, tri-hydroxybenzoate) or combinations thereof may be used in an amount of about 2 to 50 parts per million, based on the weight of the product, to protect against rancidity of the native lipids.
It is also known in the art of packaging that antioxidants such as BHT, BHA, TBHQ, and PG can be used with packaging substrates so as to produce packages that have the ability to prolong the shelf life of the stored product by minimizing the effects of oxidation. Antioxidants have been blended with coatings or adhesives for use with packaging substrates such as paperboard, corrugated paper, waxed paper, and plastic films. In actual practice the antioxidant migrates to the surface of the packaging substrate where it is released into the environment surrounding the package. This phenomena results in an atmosphere containing oxygen scavenger sites surrounding the package. The result is that the package containing the oxygen scavengers possesses the ability to neutralize oxygen molecules that come in direct contact with the substrate as well as ones that come within the immediate surroundings.
It would be desirable to produce a bag or package closure having a profile strip fastener and which included an antioxidant feature for scavenging oxygen before the oxygen entered the package through the profile strip fastener.